Welcome to Our Journal

Keith is a photographer who believes that kids are nearly perfect and that great images capture a bit of that perfection for all eternity. He loves that children don’t filter their emotions. Living loud is their power. And his job is to capture a moment of their uncontained imaginations: your children, unscripted.

Melissa is the studio manager, adoring wife, busy mom and occasional writer that believes she is living the most beautiful life in the whole world.

Keith and Melissa have two amazing daughters, Isabella and Gabriella and a little Jack Russell named Pooch.

This journal is our personal blog about our family, photography, travel and how we are inspired by children in all their authenticity, one beautiful photograph at a time.

Sometimes I feel like the school year passes entirely too quickly. Then there are other times, when you are in the throws of homework, kid’s reports, deadlines, work, field trips, play dates, etc.. that the school year feels like it is a million weeks long. Then it ends. After a whirlwind of year end pool parties, teacher gifts, final projects – the year is just over. It just ends.

Then you have to fill something like 12 weeks of stuff to do with your kids for the summer.

What? That is like an eternity. As you all know I do happen to love my kids, but I don’t know if they will love me as much if we spend 12 solid weeks together without a camp or vacation somehow breaking it all up. Or all of the above and then some. Nearly 3 months. That is a LONG time!

Yes I have family members that may think that I can’t stand my kids cause I can’t wait to get them out of my hair. But truthfully, kids need to be busy in the summer. It is 110+++ in Phoenix most of the Summer. Kids can’t be outside. So what is a work at home mom to do??? I have to be creative and find ways to keep them occupied. Hey after all, if we can’t work and be productive, they can’t eat. The two go hand in hand. We can’t take the summer off just because there is no school. Nor do we have an unlimited budget to send them to the most exotic camps in the land week after week. So we try and do a little bit of all. Some time at home, some time at camp and some time traveling.

So Laguna Beach is a relatively new tradition for us – year #2 is under way. We have found this fabulous house that is relatively affordable during the off season (a benefit of AZ schools getting out before Memorial Day, we can travel to CA when no one else is!), gorgeous ocean views, walk to the beach (if you are so inclined), walk to town, great restaurants, close to Disney, downtown LA, all sorts of day trips and the greatest weather in the world!

And the best part, we are two families traveling together that have two children the same age and everyone gets along really, really well. The kids have a great dynamic together. If we were on vacation just the Pitts family, I would be constantly breaking up squabbles and silly arguments. For 7 days the adults are treated to 4 kids just getting along, playing, laughing, having a great time. It’s like we get a vacation from our kids while still enjoying being with them!

Looking out over this gorgeous view with the beach breeze, all I can think is: Laguna Beach – I hope this is year two of a very long standing tradition!

How adorable is this family. We are so fortunate to have these wonderful people in our lives. And to see the family grow over the years is beyond special.

Baby Beck is this little cutie. I think about a week old. The ideal time to do newborn photos is within the first 10 days. This mom knew that and contacted us right away after birth. Newborns are so tiny and wrinkly in those first few days and then they become babies really quickly. Filling out and not looking so brand spanking new.

So glad Nancy the dog was able to get into the family photo. These pictures will be priceless as the years go on. So special.

I think I’m going to look back at all the thousands of pictures taken of my kids and cherish all of them. I’m sure there is one photo out there where their hair is brushed and they are dressed perfectly. But for the most part that’s just not who our kids are or who we are as parents.

Most of our pictures are of our kids just being kids, being themselves. We generally never have a session planned or much thought put into when or how they are going to be photographed. It always seems to unfold naturally. Much the same way Keith’s sessions seem to unfold. Let the kids be who they are and document them along the way.

I think Keith was testing a new film camera after school one day and Gabby happened to be close at hand. And fortunately for us, she is generally a willing participant.

She looks right at you. Those big blue eyes grab me every time. The cock of her head. The way she is pursing her lips. Gabby to a T. And Keith captures the essence of her. every. single. time. Her soul. Exactly who she is.

This little vignette at our home kind of sums up the good and bad of today’s playdates. Thank goodness there is still lots of playing…with each other…outside. They run around, invent games, walk the dogs, swim, draw, color and read. We don’t even have live television in our home, so I never worry that the kids are glued to the TV. But invariably a device makes it’s way at some point into the fold.

It’s funny, I go back and forth with this whole electronic thing for kids. There are times when I’m ok with certain aspects of it and there are other times when I just can’t stand how prevalent these gadgets have become in our children’s lives.

We haven’t given in on our kids having phones but we do let them play with our iPads and kindles. They are laughing, interacting and just being plain cute. Then I have to remind myself that this is playing. This is the 21st century way to play a game. I guess moderation and supervision are key.

But there is something about this scene that I just adore. The kids are so relaxed. The ying and yang of the dogs laying with one another. The concentration of cousin Ava. Gabby and her best friend in the whole wide world really concentrating on the iPad. I’m sure they didn’t even notice this photo being taken.